Effectiveness of the salt therapy – current knowledge status

OLEKSA, Paulina, WIĘSYK, Piotr, SPOZOWSKI, Karol & WÓJCIK, Piotr. Effectiveness of the salt therapy – current knowledge status. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2023;13(1):51-55. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2023.13.01.007 https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/40108 https://zenodo.org/record/7356381 The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343. Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences). Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159. Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe: Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu). © The Authors 2022; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 19.09.2022. Revised: 20.11.2022. Accepted: 23.11.2022. Effectiveness of the salt therapy– current knowledge status Paulina Oleksa1, ORCID: 0000-0002-3474-6156, gp.oleksa@gmail.com Piotr Więsyk1, ORCID: 0000-0001-6785-6741, piotrwiesyk@gmail.com Karol Spozowski1 ORCID: 0000-0002-2111-8249, spozok@gmail.com Piotr Wójcik1, ORCID: 0000-0002-9078-3701, piotrek1444@gmail.com Affiliations: 1Students’ Scientific Group at the Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Research Methodology, Medical University of Lublin, Radziwiłłowska 11, 20-080 Lublin, Poland Abstract: Introduction: The salt therapy is a form of the aerosol therapy using sodium chloride in different forms. The beginnings of the halotherapy date back to the nineteenth century when it has been practised as a medical treatment in the old salt mines of Central and Eastern Europe. The salt therapy as an adjuvant method seems to have positive impact on treatment of respiratory system diseases and dermatological conditions. We distinguish two types of the dry salt therapy: halotherapy and speleotherapy. Purpose of the article: We aimed to evaluate efficacy of the salt therapy in treatment of pulmonary and dermatological disorders. Material and methods: We searched three electronic databases: Pubmed, Web of Science and Google Scholar from inception to the August 2022 and conducted a review. The following descriptors were used: „halotherapy”, „speleotherapy” and „salt therapy”. Results and conclusions: The salt therapy improves mucociliary elimination, pulmonary functions and reduces airway’s irritation. It also reduces intensity of the dryness, redness and stimulates regenerative processes in the skin. This method is safe and do not cause the serious adverse effects. Therefore, due to its potential benefits, it should be considered as an additional therapy beside standard treatment procedures inter alia in the asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis. Moreover, halotherapy has positive impact on children’s general development as it enhances the growth and weight gain. However, scientific evidences for effectiveness of the salt therapy are limitted. There is a need of further studies assessing effectiveness of the long-therm salt therapy on the larger group of patients. Keywords: „halotherapy”, „speleotherapy”, „salt therapy